Blackstone

The butler did it!

The group was traveling back from visiting Lord Elorfindar when they encountered a group of orcs along the road. Two of the orcs were dispatched very quickly, but one proved to be extremely tough. The orc was able to cast what appeared to be divine spells and when pressed, was able to cast a spell to make herself very fast. She escaped! A mumble was heard that it was Rakadaras mother.

When the group returned to Daggerford, it was learned that one of the towns wells were poisoned. Several individuals, including children, were poisoned and very sick. The party gathered together as many resources as they could to help with the poisoned victims. Bobbin ran off to the Goblins and was able to work with the Alchemist to cure a couple of them. At that point, most of the victims were out of danger.

The group then gathered up Ysabeau and went over to visit Delfen. Alyssa paid the 400 gold fee to have him cast dispel magic on the Pine Marten. The spell failed and had quite the spectacular backlash. Delfen then removed the earring from the Pine Marten and identified it as an earring of non-detection. Then, through some egregious act of divine intervention, the group instantly determined that the Pine Marten was Bronwyn.

In the morning, members of the group prepared for the ball at the Dukes castle. Ysabeau was being picked up in a carriage by Gwydion, so she lent the rest of the party her carriage. It was a sweet ride!

Arriving at the ball, the group members were introduced individually and greeted by the Duke and Bronwyn. Each of the members said their greetings and it was noted by several that Bronwyn seemed a bit nervous. The party, despite being commoners, were situated one row behind the Duke, Bronwyn, the Prince, and his sister.

Darn, I said I wanted a green THUMB!

The party, having just recovered the Mabs Journal from her tower basement, spent the week taking care of personal business. We had one week until the Dukes ball so during that time, the group decided that we should visit Lord Elorfindar and hear what he had to say.

The party members each bought a steed and headed north to Elorfindars. The way was relatively quiet and we were greeted by an elf once we were within Lord Elorfindars lands. The elf led us to the Lords manson were we were told to wait. We were told that we should not expect to meet Lord Elorfindar because he didn’t anyone anymore.

The group settled in for a long wait when a discussion started up with large, rough looking man. He seemed a bit familiar but at first none could place him. He was apparently searching for someone, someone we had never heard of. After a few minutes, Alyssa was able to place him as some relative of Ulvi. It was then revealed that he was her father and that they had a falling out which led to her leaving home. After a few stories of Ulvis exploits, we agreed to help him, but told him that he shouldn’t just walk up to her, but instead let us bring her to him. He agreed to wait two days at the inn across town.

Shortly after, we were brought before Lord Elorfindar. He is old, even for an elf. We spoke a great length, learning about the picture that is housed within the vault. The painting was made just before the god Aroden vanished. Apparently part of his essence is inside the painting and is able to answer questions to whoever owns the painting. Based upon what Lord Elorfindar said, much power could be gained by anyone owning the painting. He also mentioned that what the painting says is not necessarily the truth.

The party was told that in order to get to the painting, the blood of both his house, Elorfindar, and the blood of Blackstone would be required. Since we were not in a position to get his blood, he gave us all a small ivy tattoo on our pinkie fingers so that his family would know the bond between us and help us at a later date. Also, just before we left, we made sure we understood how to get to the vault.

The party was told that once we left, Lord Elorfindar would forget about the meeting and everything he had remembered up until then.

On the way back to Daggerford, the party spied a odd warrior walking along the road. We introduced ourselves to him and offered for him to join our merry band. Also, a pine marten wearing an earring ran up to us and seemed to be friendly with both Chickna and Bobbin.

Grey Maidens, Ho!

The party had just dispatched a couple of large beetles near an underground stream. We had a Grey Maiden named Alai captive who was very talkative. The party moved slowly forward when Bobbin discovered several traps. The rogue and his buddy, Gzob, were able to disarm the traps and allow us to proceed. Just a short distance forward we found several Grey Maidens and several more lizard men standing about in front of an intricate door.

After a short discussion about who was working with whom, the party informed the Grey Maiden leader, Liota, that we were working for Ysabeau Blackstone. At that, they seemed to relax and let us work on the door. (Presumably they had been trying to get it open for some time.)

The door had several depictions of things that were backwards so Alyssa went forward and stuck her tongue on a small plate based on Gzobs instuctions. She then said “close” and three symbols appeared. We entered the symbols and the door opened.

Inside the group found two golems, the diary of Mab, a spell book, two portals, and some scrolls and potions. The golems were dispatched quickly by our sorcerer and we learned that the portals worked by just invoking the name on them. The first one went to the base of Mabs tower, the second into the Dukes grounds in a small stream. The group then informed Capt. Spearslayer of portals.

Ok, maybe just the basement

The group had just returned from a successful visit to the lizardfolk. Bobbin and Alyssa went down to the sewer entrance and waited to see if Gzob, the goblin Bobbin helped in the lizardman camp, would make it safely back. Gzob did and were able to learn of an impending attack on the goblin tribe. The group gathered our belongings and head to the goblin caves where we met up with Mip and her crew.

Apparently one of the goblins had murdered the tribal mother and had ascended to take control. The goblin did this by allying with the lizardmen and summoning demons. Gzob led us through the opening to the goblin caves and past some nasty beetles. The group found a room with the would-be goblin queen and her two demons. Our goblin allies attacked the evil goblins and the group focused on the queen and her demons. The queen was cut down quickly by Bobbin and after a bit of a fight, the demons were also dispatched. With the fight over, Mip was able to take control of the goblin tribe and she rewarded us with some small fungus’ that had special properties.

The group also learned that the lizardmen and Grey Maidens had passed through the goblin caves to go deeper into the mines. The party asked for help and Mip sent Gzob to help lead us through the mines. We took off and moved quietly to avoid any confrontations. We found one place where it appeared that the Grey Maidens collapsed the cavern. Using some tools, we were able to dig a small hole through the rubble and avoid going through more dangerous tunnels.

Shortly after, we ran into two lizardmen and a Grey Maiden. The lizardmen fell fast, but the Grey Maiden, Alai, surrendered to us. We took her captive and proceeded on. Not long after we came across two beetles. We were able to kill them, but not after a pretty rough fight.

Thems some nice boots, ya'll

The party had just finished up with sewers and was patiently waiting for the time to meet with the lizardmen envoy. Bobbin had put a plan into place were we would offer some weak weapons for trade to the lizard men in order to determine the threat level that they posed. The party agreed it was a good plan.

One of the local blacksmiths, a gentleman known for making nice looking but shoddy weapons, was employed to create some basic weapons. The party then loaded up a wagon and traveled to lizardman country. We were met with some lizardmen near the border and escorted to their leader, Red-eye. The party negotiated with Red-eye and tried to discern was he was up to but really only learned he was trying to amass power. He wanted to unite the lizardmen in the region which would probably spell problems with the Daggerford and the surrounding towns.

In the lizard encampment, the party saw they had a goblin held captive. Bobbin was able to subtly communicate with the goblin and unlocked his cage. Bobbin also told the goblin if he were to get free to meet us in the sewers in Daggerford. Also, it was noticed that a particular shield was in the camp. This was the parties first clue they were dealing with the Grey Maidens.

The party then head back to the Daggerford to let Capt. Spearslayer and the council know what happened.

My memory is only so good.

Attacked by lizardmen outside of town. Demanding weapons and armor. Killed lieutenant, ‘Gruuumsh’. Lizardmen are led by ‘Red-Eye’. The lizardfolk come to the gate about once a week to demand to trade. Thus far the town has refused to trade.

Met Ysabeau Blackstone, minor noble and owner of the Blackstone Inn. Her family’s Blackston Mines are occupied by a dragon.

Learned that an elf named "Lord Elorfindar’, who lives close to Daggerford, has valuables stored in the Blackstone Vault as well.

Following rat attacks and kidnappings, explored the sewers. Met a group of goblins hunting rats led by ‘Mip’. Traded for some herbal remedy. Killed Seamus, a strange talking pirate zombie who was in possession of a letter discussing the Blackstone Vault and the Vaults creator, the Wizard Mab. Found the corpse of Lenny, the ratcatcher, who was a skilled artist. (Lennister Melwig). Found and killed Lila the Piper, a wererat. Rescued Bella.